More women want to be referees

A former footballer who played in England's first national women's football team says the Sky Sports sexism row has led to the FA being "inundated" with calls from women wanting to be referees.

Ex-England defender Wendy Owen, 56, said that since the controversy over comments made by Andy Gray and Richard Keys about match official Sian Massey, the FA had been flooded with inquiries from women.

"Women are realising they can have a great career as a referee in the Premier League," she said.

The FA said there had "certainly been an increase" but was unable to put a figure on it.

Meanwhile Theresa May, the Home Secretary, yesterday slapped down a backbench Tory MP who called feminists "obnoxious bigots", saying his comments were "not the way forward".

Dominic Raab (Esher and Walton) claimed men were "getting a raw deal" over the cost of implementing the Equality Act.